THE AUSTRALIAN Transport Safety Bureau has today (26 July) released their report on a near miss that occurred when a bulk carrier came close to grounding on a reef.
The incident took place in the early hours of 4 May 2022, when the 225-metre Hong Kong-flagged vessel Rosco Poplar was transiting the Hydrographers Passage in the Great Barrier Reef.
The vessel came within 200 metres of Bond Reef during the transit, normal clearance being 1500 metres, when the pilot noticed the reef sector light indicating red, followed by activation of an alert from the ship’s electronic navigational equipment.
The pilot ordered a heading change and the ship’s course was altered away from the reef, with the remaining pilotage conducted without further incident.
The report stated that one of the vessel’s three GPS units had been outputting incorrect positional data during the early stages of the transit prior to the incident, unknown to the pilot and crew, likely caused by a malfunctioning antenna.
As a result, Rosco Poplar’s position was incorrectly displayed on the ship’s navigational equipment, including the electronic chart display and information system, radars and automatic identification system.
Although significant, the GPS unit was just one of several factors identified by the ATSB as having contributed in various degrees to the near miss.
The ensuing investigation found that the pilot and bridge team relied solely on GPS positioning to monitor the ship’s progress, and the pilot failed to correctly configure their portable pilot unit to be independent of the ship’s position sensors.
Moreover, it was determined that ineffective bridge resource management and ineffective pilotage contributed to the occurrence.
ATSB chief commissioner Angus Mitchell outlined, “An inadequate master-pilot information exchange did not establish individual roles and responsibilities for watchkeeping and communication, while the second mate was given tasks which distracted them from their duties for monitoring the passage plan, and maintaining a proper lookout.”
The report also stated that the coastal pilotage check pilot system did not provide the intended competency assurance to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority.
Although the ATSB asserts this did not contribute to the near-grounding incident, it found that assessment standards varied between individual check pilots, indicating assessment outcomes were not a valid and reliable indicator of competency.
AMSA has since advised a review of coastal pilotage is underway, however the ATSB has issued AMSA with a safety recommendation to address factors limiting the effectiveness of its check pilot framework.
“Compulsory coastal pilotage remains an essential defence against serious shipping accidents in the Great Barrier Reef,” Mr Mitchell said.
“If sufficient measures are not implemented to ensure assessment standards are interpreted and applied consistently – irrespective of the assessor – the outcomes are unreliable.”
It was also revealed that the vessel traffic services operator had assessed an unusual grounding alert associated with Rosco Polar’s GPS malfunction as erroneous.
“Consequently, the pilot and ship’s crew were not provided with timely advice of the indicated proximity to Bond Reef,” Mr Mitchell concluded.
